A Cowboy's Kiss
by Cherokee85
Summary: Everything is well in the kingdom. But will an unexpected rescue lead Butcher on a journey with a woman he may not be able to resist. Rating M as a precaution.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: As a disclaimer most of the characters and ideas belong to the creators of Mirror Mirror. The plot, other characters and imagery are my own. Hope you like this story. Butcher was my favorite and so I couldn't leave him without a fiery woman to love. :)

Chapter 1: Here we go again

It has not been long since Snow White the princess married her prince, Albert of Valencia. After beating the evil, vain queen; her step-mother. All seemed well in the kingdom, people were singing and dancing again; enjoying wonderful prosperity. The seven dwarfs had returned to the forest as they felt they were guardians for the passengers traveling through the forest. Not to mention they didn't quite trust the villagers for expelling them in the first place.

One day they were out in the forest on their stilts wishing for something to happen. Everything had been too quiet since Snow had defeated the former queen and restored her father to his throne. "I'm bored" Half-pint said. "I'm hungry. Is it lunchtime yet?" said Grub. "Here we go again" Napoleon said. Then they heard it.

The sound of carriage wheels in the forest. They looked at each other eagerly. Wolf suppressed a howl. Butcher smirked "Showtime." "Not anymore. All we can do is watch." Said Grimm. Still they sprinted off through the woods on their stilts. They seemed to glide over the terrain, as though they really were seven feet tall. Yet, they were graceful as if they were acrobats. As they drew nearer, though they started to slow down and became puzzled for there was another sound mixing in with the carriage wheels; the sound of clinking metal.

As they came over a rise they observed the wagon. Two horses being driven by a man obviously drunk and intending on becoming more so. They still could not figure out the clinking sound until the end of the wagon came into view. There was someone shackled to the wagon, carrying a heavy sack on their back. This puzzled the dwarves, for slavery had been banned after the fall of the former queen.

The wagon came to a halt it seemed the drunkard needed a breather. The shackled person attempted to remove their burden but then fell; dropping the sack spilling the entire contents. It was easy to see that the contents just seemed to be odds and ends. The male screamed "You stupid, useless worm. How dare you drop such important things, I've had it with you." He charged the person as they scrambled to get up and get out of his reach.

He dragged the person by the shackles to the nearest tree and threw the shackle chain over a branch. Standing behind the person, he stretched them up on their feet and they thrashed attempting to free themselves. The man held the end of the chain in one hand while taking a whip from his hip with his other hand. The dwarves started to make a silent descent of the hill moving from tree to tree trying to maintain cover until they were in the best spot to attack.

The man said "I'll teach you some respect for my things." As he lashed out with the whip the person in the shackles arched back but did not make a noise. The dwarves decided it was time to charge. As they got ready to spring into action, as the next blow landed the poor person struggled harder and the cloak that had been hiding their head fell back revealing not a man but a young woman. Her eyes were open, tears streamed down her cheeks but she seemed determined not to scream.

That did it. The dwarves charged down the hill. Wolf sounded the call. They split up with several taking the horses. Butcher headed right for the man with the whip using his own to take the man down hard by the feet, he continued to run dragging him around the wagon. Chuckles met him with a rope and with the help of the others they stripped him down, and hoisted him up by his ankles to a tree branch. This done, Butcher returned to find the shackled person fleeing into the forest. He sprinted after her while the others decided to find anything of use in the wagon. Boy, she was fast. He thought he had lost her as he crested some rocks, only he couldn't see her running in any direction. Then he looked down.

There she was, unconscious at the base of the rocks. He whistled for his companions. Although what he didn't expect was for them to want to take her home with them. "No. No, no, no. We should just take her to the village." Butcher said. They of course argued with him. "She'll never make it." "We can just take care of her while we get Snow to see what she suggests." "Stop being so grumpy." "It worked out before." "Can I keep her?" "Enough. Alright, we can take her home for now." Butcher said.

Although he wondered just what they had gotten themselves into as they carried her through the forest to their home.


	2. Chapter 2: Silence is Golden

A/N: Yay I got a review it was more than I expected. Glad you like it so far. Not sure where my muse is taking me on this but hopefully somewhere good.

The others have gone to retrieve Snow and medicine, Butcher remains behind seating himself in much the same spot as when they brought Snow in after finding her. They had placed the woman on her stomach so as not to irritate the cuts on her back from the beating. As Butcher stared at her he found himself getting angry at the man who could do such a thing. "Who could hurt something so beautiful?" he thought. Mentally shaking his head "beautiful, what is wrong with me. She's just a girl who will bring us nothing but trouble."

Below the girl begins to stir, he sees her eyes open and she gingerly starts to sit up. He sees the slightest trace of a wince cross her face which she quickly masks. He finds himself staring at her shoulders, her hair, her chin, her lips, when he finds himself staring into her eyes. They were so green, he had never seen anything so green. She watched him closely.

"Why were you chained up?" he asks. She shrinks back slightly from him, dropping her gaze to the floor. "What is your name?" he tries. Nothing. "Man, most women never shut up. Now I can't get one to talk." He thinks. He stands and slides down the pole spiraling around it. "Are you hungry?" he asks. She continues to stare at the floor as if it is a lifeline. He decides to go to the kitchen.

He hears the door, and comes back thinking the others have returned. No such luck, the girl decided to run away. "Women aren't worth this much trouble." He exclaims aloud. However, he follows knowing that it will be dark soon which will bring on the night chill.

Ahead the girl is sprinting through the forest with all of her might thoughts racing through her mind. _Keep moving. Don't stop or else you'll be the slave of another man. He was very gruff….and cute. Wait cute? Where did that come from? Men are nothing but trouble. Which you'll be in if he finds you. Keep moving, faster._

Her feet are numb but she will not give up. Finally, feeling she is safe she starts to walk. Stopping she hears a welcome sound. Walking quickly she finds a lake with a waterfall. _Okay maybe a quick dip at least to get the dirt off. Getting sick will definitely be a bigger problem. Maybe he didn't even come after me. I can only hope._

Looking behind she feels safe enough and removes her top layer of clothing. Her chemise should be enough, she knows she needs to bath the wounds on her back. She wades into the water and swims over to the waterfall which nicely has rocks under the fall that she can sit on.

He wondered how she could run so fast. He knew he was close to the lake and thought she can't have gotten this far. He walked around a tree thinking about where she could be hiding when he saw her. There she was beneath the falls, in nothing but her undergarments. He knew he should look away but he couldn't help admiring her. Her hair now that he could see it properly was as red as fire, her skin was tan but looked soft. He took a step forward and SNAP…..


	3. Chapter 3: Ivy

A/N: My sincerest apologies, I didn't even realize it had been a whole month since I had updated! I hope you like this next chapter and will try to make time for my muse to keep the story breathing.

…stepped on a twig.

He groaned as she whipped around on the rock under the waterfall taking a flight posture, resting on her fingers and toes crouched like a tiger ready to run. Her eyes found him and he thought he saw her relax just a little bit. They stared for what seemed like forever then her eyes broke away from his and traveled over his body. He felt chills knowing she was looking him over. Until her gaze came to rest on his whip. She scrambled backward into a rock and hit her head falling into the water.

"Damn" he said. He removed his whip and hat wading into the water fast to keep her from drowning. Reaching her he flipped her onto her back and began to tow her toward the closest shore trying to ignore how soft her skin felt under his hands.

Tugging her onto the bank he put his hand on her chest and was relieved to feel a heartbeat and feel her chest rise and fall with breath. She started to cough and then her eyes were open. "Why do I find myself staring at this chick so much" he thought. "What kind eyes he has and so very blue. But what man with a whip can be kind" she mused.

"Since I've saved your life twice now will you at least tell me your name?" He asked gruffly. Slowly she rolled onto her side and sat up still staring with those vivid green eyes.

"Ivy. What is your name?"

"Butcher"

She winced at that.

"Why did you run away from the house?"

"Why wouldn't I. No man saves a slave girl except to make her his slave."

"But we don't want a slave. I didn't want to bring you home at all."

Strangely she felt her heart sink a little at that response.

(Butcher's POV)

_Is it just me or does she seem disappointed that I said that. What difference does it make? Come to think of it why do I keep running after her? Why not just let her leave? I wonder if she knows her eyes are gorgeous. Whoa there, gorgeous what is wrong with me? You would think I hit my head._

(Ivy's POV)

_Okay so, he doesn't want a slave that is a relief. And yet I don't think I would mind being his slave. Oh for heaven's sake, a man looks at you with a pair of stunning blue eyes and you completely lose your mind. Although that is the cutest goatee I have ever seen. I wonder what his skin feels like. Wait, damn it his name is Butcher for crying out loud. That name says it all. _

(Regular)

"So are you going to come back with me? At least since the others went to get medicine for your back. Or you can stay out here and freeze to death." Butcher stated gruffly as he started to walk back toward his hat and whip. She watched as he walked wondering if she was crazy. She got up and followed to where her clothes lay on the ground. She turned her back to him as she started to pull her skirt on. As she began to pull her shirt over her head she gasped involuntarily. "Are you okay?" asked Butcher with his back to her as he felt it only right to give her some privacy to dress. "Yes, I will be fine." She replied.

"Okay I'm ready."

"Let's go then."

As they began the journey back to the house with Butcher leading the way Ivy couldn't help but wonder why she was trusting him and why she felt such a need to look at him. It wasn't as if she hadn't seen men before while he was shorter than her she could feel an energy surrounding him that seemed to crackle like electricity. Just like Ivy, Butcher was occupied by thoughts of his own. Although he was mostly trying to ignore the fact that he was so aware of the woman striding next to him. He could feel her eyes and felt unreasonably irritated that he was hoping she wasn't upset by his height. What that mattered he felt the need to try to ignore even more. Why did life have to become so complicated?


End file.
